>In its raw power, some conservationists see a way of achieving impossible-sounding feats like exterminating an island’s rats by spreading genes through the wild population that make it difficult for the animals to reproduce.
How can a gene drive which prevents reproduction spread to the whole population? And wouldn't it be self limiting? I kinda of seems like me to be the opposite of a gene drive.
In 1997, farmers illegally smuggled a hemorrhagic virus into New Zealand to control rabbit pests.
Interesting. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/798d/8b6f9874ae41d0105b012b...
The province of Alberta, Canada (more than twice the land area of New Zealand) is free of rats.
In their case, it was largely by stopping rats entering from the east (Saskatchewan) in the 1950's - there are natural barriers on the other three sides.
History: http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/agd...
Still, NZ could be divided into areas that have natural barriers, and peninulas (plenty of them), and start intensive poisoning barriers in those areas, expanding towards the sea.
Doesn't need gene editing, which certainly has unknown risks.